Guide to Folkestone services

The last service station in England: Folkestone is located just minutes from the Eurotunnel and not much further from the Port of Dover. It calls itself the 'Port Early Arrival Facility', meaning that anyone early for their ship or a train can stop by and rest before heading onwards.

Facilities

Catering: Chopstix Noodle Bar, Curried Away, Don Air Pizza & Kebabs, KFC, Taco Bell, Subway, The Café, Tchibo Shops: Hythe Convenience Store Amenities: Channel Ports (Inland Border Facility), Coach Interchange, Ferry Timetables, Free Cash Machines, Harbour Shipping (Bureau de Change), Quicksilver, Revolution Laundry, Showers Outdoor Space: Picnic tables at front and side of building; grass verges only; public footpath connections Charging Points: GRIDSERVE Electric Highway 50kW CCS, 50kW CHAdeMO & 22kW Type 2; IONITY 350kW CCS Forecourt: Shell, Select, Deli by Shell, Costa Express, Free Cash Machine

Parking Prices

First 2 hours free for all vehicles, after which cars must pay £10, caravans and motorhomes must pay £20, and HGVs must pay £26 which includes a £6 food voucher.

Prices are paid using the self-service pay points located throughout the amenity building.

The fees are strictly enforced by Stop 24 and are monitored by ANPR cameras.

This information is provided to us by third parties. You should always check with staff on site.

Contact Details

Trivia and Design

See also: History:Folkestone

Folkestone is the UK's most easterly motorway service area, but Exeter is more southern. As Folkestone is at the first exit after the Channel Tunnel, the series of roundabouts within the service area forms the first challenge for drivers of foreign-registered vehicles.

Folkestone is a very unusual motorway service area precisely because it is the only one in England not to have any sister sites elsewhere in the country. It consists of a large building which is managed like a shopping centre, with individual units leased out to interested firms. For many years it was characterised by its high turnover of retail units, leading to it being labelled "a commercial failure". It's now owned by a Getlink company, who also operate the Eurotunnel. Their lawyers have described the complex as mainly "lesser brands and local operators", leading to a poor public perception.

Planning permission was granted to install a temporary two-storey, 80-bed Snoozebox hotel here to the south of the amenity building in 2017, made from old shipping containers. A separate superseding planning application was accepted in September 2020 which will see the Snoozebox hotel increase in capacity to include 98 bedrooms over three stories, and in place permanently. The landowner said the hotel would be branded "Best Western or similar".

Shell demolished their car wash in 2020 to make way for four IONITY electric vehicle charging points. GRIDSERVE also installed three electric vehicle charging points in the main car park in late 2021.

American coffee giants Gloria Jean's had intended to open a store here to replace the West Cornwall Food Co. unit, but this is no longer the case. Taco Bell later opened here on 18 January 2023 in a vacant unit next to the Chopstix Noodle Bar.

Major changes are expected to take place in January 2025. Two new drive thru units are planned to open, and will be operated by Roadchef, who already own the two next service areas. They will trade as McDonald's and Costa. Meanwhile, the new site owner Channel Ports has committed to upgrading the showers, providing charging points and opening a lounge and fitness centre for HGV drivers.

Alternatives

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